Hey everyone! I'm planning to install a version of Linux on a partition of my computer in order to play around with it and see how it works, but I haven't decided on what version yet. Right now I am kind of leaning towards Fedora Core or Ubuntu - Fedora because my friend uses it and could hopefully help me if I have problems, Ubuntu because it looks pretty friendly and easy.

I have a few worries - would there not really be any point in installing Ubuntu if I'm not learning much? (In other words, maybe Fedora will be helpful in terms of making me learn a bit more about how to get things working on the computer).

Also, are there any major issues I should know about with a particular version? I was reading Fedora's FAQ and it said it did not come with MP3 / Adobe Flash support since they're proprietary formats... will I be able to figure out how to get these working after installation, or is this something impossible / ridiculously difficult to do?

Finally, are there going to be any painful issues in terms of enabling Japanese input? The Windows IME system was pretty self-explanatory once I found directions on how to enable it, but perhaps it's not that difficult to figure something out in Linux either.

Thank you so much for any advice. Also, feel free to suggest some other version of Linux if you think Fedora and Ubuntu don't cut it.

Since you posted on this site, I assume you would like Japanese support in your Operating System. I read somewhere (Wikipedia, I think) that Fedora has no Japanese support, but Ubuntu does. That made my decision.

Ubuntu, because the debian package manager is very good at resolving dependencies between packages, compared to others I've tried (redhat, gentoo and slackware), and ubuntu has more up to date backages than straight debian (or at least that was the case).

There is a thread on here somewhere about setting up Japanese support on Ubuntu.

I'm using SUSE linux 10.1. It has built in Japanese support, and a good RPM manager. I mean, I had a little trouble turning of the Japanese globally but after that It all worked out for me. I have all the languages installed lol. So I can type in over 30 differnt languages. But I use Japanese alot because it is the only one I am studying as of right now. Well, studying frequently. Try Ubuntu it's very user friendly, and the standard desktop is GNOME so give it a try.

danvx6 wrote:I read somewhere (Wikipedia, I think) that Fedora has no Japanese support, but Ubuntu does. That made my decision.

Yeah, that would definitely push me away from Fedora and towards Ubuntu. I don't *necessarily* need Japanese input support, but it would be a big pain to have to reboot and switch OSes every time I was using Linux and wanted to type something in Japanese.

It looks like Ubuntu is getting more support from you guys anyways. I'll check out Knoppix and SUSE too though... thanks for the suggestions guys, I appreciate it!

*EDIT* oh and totally random, but I live ~40 minutes from you Shadow (I'm at Virginia Tech).

Last edited by HeyItsMatt on Wed 02.28.2007 5:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

It's quite easy installing mp3 support. Just download the most recent xine libraries and install them. Here are links and also HOW-TO
http://cambuca.ldhs.cetuc.puc-rio.br/xine/As music player I recommend Amarok and for video you could use Kaffeine...

If your machine can handle the VMWare Player, you could install a version in a virtual machine and see what you like first without committing.

Since you're also into Japanese, you could go whole-hog and install a Japanese distribution--then you won't have to worry whether Japanese support is included. I use Momonga, but Vine Linux also looks nice, and Plamo will suit you if you're a Slackware fan.

I'd like to get Plamo running but haven't had the time. I installed Momonga in a virtual machine (the installer was in English) and use it frequently.